Overflow-alarm.



Patented-Feb. 27; I900.

N. M00. & G. W. LENT.

OVERFLOW ALARM.

(Application filed Dec. 16, 1899.)

(No Model.)

IIPHH" ATTORNEYS us NORRIS Parana ca, "40104.

NITED STATES PATENT Enron,

NATHANIEL MOCAUL LENT AND GEORGE W. LENT, OF NElV YORK, N. Y.

OVERFLOW-ALARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 644,140, dated February 2'7, 1900. Application filed December 16, 1899. Serial No. 740,520. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that We,-NATHANIEL McOAUL LEN'r and GEORGE 1V. LENT, citizens of the United States, residing at New York, (Brooklyn,) in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Overflow-Alarms, of which the following is a full and complete specification, such as will enable those skilled inthe art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to overflow-alarms; and the object thereof is to provide an automatic alarm device for attachment to and use in connection with refrigerator drip-pans and other liquid-receivers in the employment of which there is the danger of undesired overflow Our i nvent-ion relates to devices of this class in which clockwork is set in motion to sound an alarm by means of a float operatively connected therewith and which is operated upon by the liquid in a receptacle when the same has reached a predetermined level in the latter.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which like reference characters denote like parts in the several views, Figure 1 is a side'elevation, partly in section, of an alarm device constructed according to our invention attached in operative position to a refrigerator drip-pan, only a portion of the latter being shown; and Fig. 2, a plan view thereof.

In the practice of our invention we provide a clockwork-casing 3, which is provided at one end with a spring clasp or clip 4, which to secure the casing 3 in operative position is passed over the edge of the liquid-receptacle 5. The clockwork-casing 3 is preferably open at its inner end, being otherwise closed,- and secured therein by means of a bindingscrew 6 is a clockwork-frame denoted by the general reference character 7, in which is operatively mounted the ordinary or any preferred form of clockwork spring-drum 8, provided witha winding-shaft 9 and with which is operatively connected a train of gears 10. One of the said train of gears consists of an escapement-wheel 10, and journaled in the frame 3 adjacent thereto is an escapementarbor 11, provided with a fixed escapement 12, which operates in connection with the es capement-wheel 10, and the arbor 12 is provided above the escapement with a fixed stop-pin 13.

A standard 14 is fixed to the top of the frame 7 within the casing 3, and an operating lever 15 is pivoted thereto at 16, the longer end thereof being directed downwardly and bent in two places at 17 and 18 to project into the receptacle 5 and provided within said receptacle with a float 19, consisting of a disk of cork or other buoyant substance. The shorter end of the operating-lever 15 is bent downwardly at an angle of approximately ninety degrees at 20 andprovided with an eye 21 at its extreme outer end por-' tion. Another standard 22 is fixed to the top of the frame 7 adjacent to the standard 14, and pivoted thereto at 23 is a supplemental lever 24, the longer arm 24 of which passes loosely and slidably through the eye 21 and the shorter arm 25 of which is bowed at an angle of approximately ninety degrees at 26 and directed downwardly through a suitable slot in the top of the frame 7. The lever 24 is so mounted that it oscillates in a vertical plane, and the extreme end portion 27 of the shorterarm 26 thereof projects normally into-the path of the revoluble movement of the stop-pin 13, as shown in Fig. 1.

The frame 7 is provided with a laterallydirected arm 28, with which an alarm-bell 29 is detachablyconnected, and the escapementarbor 11 is provided, as shown in Fig. 2, with a laterallydirected hammer arm 30, provided with a hammer-head 31, which operates in connection with the bell 29 upon oscillation of the escapement-arbor 11.

In Fig. 1 we have shown the liquid in the receptacle 5 as having risen to a level denoted by the reference character 32, and it is evi dent that should said level rise to such a point that the liquid should act upon the float 19 the latter, due to its buoyant quality,

would rise, raising the longer arm of the operating-lever 15 and depressing the shorter arm thereof, whereby the eye 21 will be depressed, the lever-arm 24 of the lever 24 also depressed, and the shorter arm 25 and extreme end portion 27 thereof be raised out of engagement with the stop-pin 13, whereby the escapement 12 would be free to be actuated by the escapement-wheel 10 allowing the oscillation of the arbor 11 and the hammer 30,causing the hammer-head 31 to intermittently beat upon the alarm-bell 29, indicating audibly to persons sufficiently near the fact that the liquid within the receptacle 5 has reached a level, which of course might be predetermined, as desired. It is understood that the windingshaft 9 would be operated whenever necessary to wind up the spring-drum 8. A spring'32 is coiled about the standard 22, and one end thereof, 33, is connected with the longer arm 2-1 of the lever 24, whereby said lever is normally maintained in the raised position,which is that shown in Fig. 1, maintaining the end 27 of the shorter arm 26 in engagement with the stop-pin 13.

By means of the relative construction and arrangement of parts above described we avoid the extreme delicacy of operation of parts, which is at times undesirable in devices of this class, as an alarm is often sounded due to jar or other inadvertent actuation of the parts.

Having fully described our invention, we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. An overflow-alarm, comprising a clockwork mechanism detachabl y connected with a liquid-receptacle, said clockwork mechanism being provided with an escapement-arbor, an escapement, and a stop-pin mounted thereon, an operating-lever pivoted to said clockwork mechanism and provided with a longer arm which carries a float which operates within said receptacle, a supplemental lever pivoted to said clockwork mechanism and one arm thereof being straight and operating in connection with the shorter arm of said operating-lever,the otherarm thereof beingbowed and operating in connection with said steppin, the relative construction and arrangement of parts being such that when the liquid in said receptacle raises said float, said bowed arm of said supplemental lever will be freed from said stop-pin, said escapement-arbor being provided with a hammer-arm whereby an alarm may be sou n d ed,substantially as shown and described.

2. In an alarm device of the class described to operate in connection with a 1iquid-receptacle, a clockwork mechanism, and a bell, said clockwork mechanism being provided with an escapement-arbor which carries a hammer-arm, and with an escapement which operates in connection with said clockwork mechanism, a stop-pin connected with said escapement-arbor, a pivoted operating-lever, the longer arm of which is provided with a float and the shorter arm of which is provided wit-l1 an eye at its outer end portion, and a supplemental pivoted lever, one arm of which operates in connection with said stoppin, and the other arm of which operates slidably in connection with the shorterarm of said operating-lever whereby as said float is raised, said auxiliary lever is freed from said stoppin, substantially as shown and described.

3. In an alarm device of the class described to operate in connection with a liquid-receptacle, a clockwork mechanism, and a bell, said clockwork mechanism being provided with an escapement-arbor which carries a hammer-arm, and with an escapement which operates in connection with said clockwork mechanism, a stop-pin connected with said escapement-arbor, a pivoted operating-lever, the longer arm of which is provided with a float and the shorter arm of which is provided with an eye at its outer end portion, and a supplemental pivoted lever, one arm of which operates in connection with said stoppin, and the other arm of which operates slidably in connection with the shorter arm of said operating-lever whereby as said float is raised, said auxiliary lever is freed from said stoppin, said auxiliary lever being provided with a tension device whereby itis normally maintained in engagement with said stop-pin, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our invention we have signed our names, in presence of the subscribing witnesses, this 14th day of December, 1899.

NATHANIEL MOGAUL LENT. GEORGE \V. LEN'I. W

it messes:

F. A. STEWART, V. M. VosLnR. 

